Step #1: Two days before.
Fill a metal bowl (sized to scale with the punch bowl) with water and stash it in the freezer.Step #2: A few hours before serving, or the night before.
Steep 2 green tea bags in 2 cups water for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Peel 8 lemons. In a large bowl, muddle peels in 2 c sugar until oil is absorbed.
Add tea, 1 L cognac, and 1 750-ml bottle dark rum. Stir until sugar is dissolved.
Add 4 cups cold water and refrigerate.Step #3: Complete this step within a few hours of serving.
Add 12 oz fresh-squeezed lemon juice to the booze-sugar-tea mixture.
Add block of ice to the punch bowl and serve. The punch doesn’t taste strong but it is; ladle conservatively into an ice-filled glass.SOUR Augusto Lino, Upstairs on the Square
1.5 Gin
1.5 Green chartreuse
1.5 Ice wine verjus
Stir ingredients with ice in a mixing glass. Strain into a chilled cocktails glass.

*Recent ruminations from LUPEC Boston as originally published in The Weekly Dig.

by Pink Lady

The history behind the great classic cocktails keeps us interested, but it’s often the quirky names that draw us in. With Halloween approaching, let us turn our attention to morbidly named libations, such as the Corpse Reviver.

Judging by name alone, you mistake this cocktail for a modern, icky club-land creation, possibly of the same ilk as the Mind-eraser. It’s easy to feel intimidated by a drink with such a name, and how are there four or five different versions of it? The simple answer is that this fine concoction was actually more of a category of cocktail than a singular drink itself, much like how many people will ask a bartender for their house list of “martinis” nowadays.

“[The Corpse Reviver] originated at the turn of the twentieth century, sometimes merely as the ‘reviver’ or ‘eye-opener’,” writes Ted Haigh in Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails. Quite simply, the drink is the hair of the dog of yesteryear. It has committed over 100 of service to hungover individuals, breathing life where ethanol fumes once lingered and restoring equilibrium and balance to mind and body.

The Corpse Reviver No.1 contains Italian Vermouth, Apple Brandy, and Brandy. According to Harry Craddock, the drink should be taken “before 11 a.m., or whenever steam and energy are needed.” Tell that to your boss next time you “need steam” and see what happens. It’s just another reminder that we were born in the wrong decade.

The Corpse Reviver No. 2 is the one you will most commonly encounter today. We think it’s a delight when made with Bluecoat gin, Vieux Carré Absinthe and Combier L’Original triple sec. Of this drink, Harry Craddock warns: “Four of these taken in swift succession will unrevive the corpse again.”

Do bear this in mind as you make your rounds this Halloween.

CORPSE REVIVER NO.1

Adapted from the Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Craddock

.75 oz Italian Vermouth

.75 oz Apple Brandy or Calvados

1.5 oz Brandy

Shake well and strain into a cocktail glass.

CORPSE REVIVER NO. 2

Adapted from Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails

1 oz Bluecoat American gin

1 oz Combier L’Original Triple Sec

1 oz Liller Blanc

1 oz fresh lemon juice

1-3 drops Vieux Carre Absinthe

Shake in an iced cocktail shaker and strain into a chilled vintage cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.

Thanks to all of you who came out to the Museum of the American Cocktail on October 4th to join me as we took a look at Boozing in Boston: From the Sons of Liberty to the Ladies of LUPEC. As promised (albeit a bit later than planned) here are the recipes for all of the cocktails as well as a short bibliography of some of the books I referenced.

If you have further questions, please feel free to comment below and I’ll get back to you tout de suite.

The house cocktail at Drink, the Fort Point pays homage to the long standing tradition of creating Manhattan variants and naming them after one’s neighborhood. Here we throw our hat into the ring.

2 oz Old Overholt
.5 oz Punt e Mes
.25 oz Benedictine

Place all ingredients in a chilled pint glass with ice. Stir. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a Luxardo Maraschino cherry.

JOE’S FASHION

Joe’s Fashion is named after the filly that Joseph Laird Sr rode in the 1840’s. Widely hailed as one of the greatest filly racers and top money winners of all time, Fashion’s abililties and winnings made it possible for the Laird’s to move their distillery to Scobeyville NJ.

Bring the water and the spices to a simmer. Add the
sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and bring
mixture back to a boil. Remove from heat and allow to
cool. Strain.

IRMA LA DOUCE

Created by the ladies of LUPEC Boston for a fund raising event, the Irma La Douce is named after the movie of the same name starring Shirley MacLaine as a Parisian prostitute who is known for her bright green stockings.

Muddle cucumber in the bottom of a mixing glass. Add all other ingredients and ice. Shake and strain through a tea strainer into a chilled cocktail glass.

MAXIMILIAN AFFAIR

Created for the St Germain cocktail competition two years ago, the Maximilian Affair features a double base of agave and St Germain. I prefer this cocktail with Del Maguey mezcal, but for those looking to highlight the St Germain a blanco tequila can be used with great effect.

*Recent ruminations from LUPEC Boston, as originally published in the Weekly Dig.

by Pink Lady

As regular readers of our column know, LUPEC ladies tend to defy general stereotypes about what women “should” drink. Flirtini? Umm…thanks, but we’d rather have a Sazerac. Girly drinks to us aren’t necessarily sticky sweet pink concoctions, and strong and stirred cocktails should not be reserved just for manly men. But putting the gender-bendy stuff aside, is there actual rhyme or reason to why we taste what we taste?

Yes, actually, there is and that’s exactly what we’ll be exploring next week at a Science of Taste Through Cocktails seminar at Eastern Standard. LUPEC has united a team of nerdy cocktail types with their scientific counterparts to explore taste through our favorite medium: alcoholic beverages. And it’s all for a good cause – proceeds from the ticket sales will benefit local non-profit Science Club for Girls.

The seminar will explore the scientific aspects of taste and flavor through cocktails. We’ll explore the five facets of taste (sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami) through five unique cocktails cultivated by five Boston bartenders, featuring Nicole Lebedevitch from Eastern Standard, Augusto Lino from Upstairs on the Square, Carrie Cole from Craigie on Main, Joy Richard from the Franklin/the Citizen, and Emily Stanley from Bols (formerly of Green Street, Trina’s Starlite Lounge, and Deep Ellum). Don Katz, a Professor specializing in Chemosensation from Brandeis, will speak about the science of taste and flavor, and Graham Wright, a former chemist and general Boston bon vivant, will team up with the bartenders to explain how these concepts are applied in the glass.

The Science of Taste is a consumer event and all proceeds from the evening will benefit Science Club for Girls, a MA-based non-profit that provides free hands-on enrichment in science and engineering to over 800 children in the Boston area, many of whom are from underrepresented groups and may be the first in their families to attend college. We couldn’t imagine a more appropriate cause.

Tickets are $55 and will include a welcome punch, five sample cocktails, and light snacks. Space is extremely limited. If you’re dying to figure out exactly what umami is, nab your tickets now.

In the interim, you raise a salty cocktail at home, a variation of which which we’ll serve at the seminar.

On Wednesday, October 27, LUPEC Boston and Eastern Standard will unite a team of nerdy cocktail types with their scientific counterparts to explore The Science of Tastethrough our favorite medium: alcoholic beverages, all to benefit a good cause, The Science Club for Girls.

We’ll explore the five facets of taste – sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami – through five unique cocktails cultivated by five Boston bartenders, featuring Nicole Lebedevitch from Eastern Standard, Augusto Lino from Upstairs on the Square, Carrie Cole from Craigie on Main, Joy Richard from the Franklin/the Citizen, and Emily Stanley of Bols (formerly of Green Street, Trina’s Starlite Lounge, and Deep Ellum).

Don Katz, a Professor specializing in Chemosensation from Brandeis, will speak about the science of taste and flavor, and Graham Wright, a chemist and Boston bon vivant, will team up with the bartenders to explain how these concepts are applied in the glass.

The Science of Taste is a three-part consumer series designed to benefit Science Club for Girls, a MA-based non-profit that provides free hands-on enrichment in science and engineering to over 800 children in the Boston area, many of whom are from underrepresented groups and may be the first in their families to attend college.

Tickets are $55 and include a welcome punch, five sample cocktails, and light snacks. Space is extremely limited. If you’re dying to figure out exactly what umami is, nab your tickets now.

*Recent ruminations from LUPEC Boston, as originally published in The Weekly Dig.

by Pink Lady

Happy 500th birthday, Bénédictine! This mysterious liqueur was invented by a monk named Dom Bernardo Vincelli, in 1510.

Vincelli, a member of the order of Saint Benedict in the French abbey of Fécamp, experimented in alchemy—more than the process of turning metals into gold, a lesser known application of alchemy involved developing secret elixirs that are thought to help prolong life. This is how Bénédictine was born.

Like another favorite monk-made elixir of ours, Chartreuse, the recipe for Bénédictine was nearly lost in 1789 during the French Revolution and was rediscovered in 1863 by wine merchant Alexandre Le Grand. While sorting through some old family papers, Le Grand discovered a recipe book that had fallen into his family’s hands decades earlier when the last monk to leave the abbey of Fécamp gave them several of their most precious books. These tomes had been collecting dust in the library, unnoticed for decades.

Le Grand spent a year decoding the recipe, but was eventually able to re-create the elixir Vincelli had invented so long ago. Bénédictine is a bewitching blend of 27 different plants and spices, all proprietary, of course, and it became popular in the 1880s.

LUPEC was thrilled to host Bénédictine’s 500th birthday party at Franklin Southie last weekend. If you missed it, you can raise a glass of one of these at home, toasting five centuries in pursuit of long life.

Old No. 27

2 oz Plymouth Gin

0.5 oz Bénédictine

0.5 oz Combier

1 dash Fee Bros orange bitters

1 dash angostura bitters

Combine ingredients in a mixing glass. Stir and strain into a chilled vintage cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange peel.

Recent ruminations from LUPEC Boston, as published recently in The Weekly Dig.

by Hanky Panky + Pink Lady

A quick look around the farmers market, and it’s clear that fall is upon us. The last heirloom tomatoes of the season are now cohabitating with local apples, leading to thoughts of crisps and pies loaded with yummy fall spices. Thanks to our friends at Haus Alpenz, the flavors of fall can also make their way into your cocktail glass via St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram.

This allspice liqueur originated in Jamaica as pimento dram, named after the pimento berry from which it is made. The first English to encounter the pimento berry found it to be a conundrum and quickly renamed it allspice, as it encapsulated the flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove.

Although pimento dram was never a huge hit in the States, it received some attention mid-century when tiki aficionados used the exotic, full-flavored dram to add depth to their multilayered concoctions. The importation of pimento dram declined as tiki fell out of fashion.

The Haus Alpenz version of pimento dram made its debut in 2008 sporting a moniker that reflects its distinctive flavor rather than evoking images of red slivers stuffed in olives. St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram is made in Austria using Jamaican allspice berries, raw sugar and an aromatic pot-stilled Jamaican rum. When used sparingly, it adds subtle spice notes to cocktails, while in larger proportions, it presents the full, warm flavors of fall.